Email is Taking Over Mobile Web: What are You Doing About It?

by Shannon Suetos

E-mail marketing isn’t anything new. Since the 90’s e-mail has evolved into our daily lives. There are RSS feeds we set up, and coupons from our favorite store and everything in between. With that said, a new study has shown that on average, more people are using their phones to check e-mail.

Nielsen is reporting that, “if all time spent on the mobile web was condensed into a single hour, US internet users would have spent 25 minutes in June checking email.” For online marketers that is hard to ignore. So what can you do to make sure your e-mail blasts are user friendly?

Smaller Screen Size

The space available on a computer versus a mobile phone is obviously much different. Mobile phones are smaller and that needs to be taken into consideration when sending out e-mail blasts. Large images and lots of text are not as user friendly when being viewed from a mobile phone. Instead of filling your e-mail blast with a bunch of fluff, make sure you are giving the facts you need only.

Constant Contact suggests, “include short blurbs, and link back to your website. That said, don’t substitute photos for text. If your readers have images turned off, you still want them to know what’s in your email. Be sure to include clear text descriptions for your photos.”

Test Different Platforms

View your analytics and see what devices your clients are opening their emails with. BlackBerry? iPhone? Android based? Knowing what the majority of your customers are using can again help you with formatting the perfect e-mail. Not everyone has a smartphone, so you also need to take that into consideration. Test your emails on different phones.

Call to Action

In most e-mail blasts there is a call to action for the reader. This could be going to a specific landing page on your site for a promotion, or a new blog post. Mobile should also have call to actions such as click to call and a mobile friendly website if a desired landing page is necessary. There is nothing worse than having your customer do the call to action and then getting frustrated because your website is taking too long to load.

Mobile is becoming more and more predominate for web browsing. Online marketing tactics are going to shift towards mobile friendly websites and e-mail blasts. If you haven’t thought about mobile, it may be time to start reading up on some useful tactics to help you get the exposure you need and rightfully deserve.

Shannon Suetos is an expert writer on payroll services based in San Diego, California. She writes extensively for an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing and outsourcing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs such as small business payroll services at Resource Nation.